Thursday, October 3, 2024, 6:15 p.m.
Just two days after taking office as NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte visited Ukraine yesterday to meet with the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky. In addition to expressing his support and his commitment to continue providing aid, the former Dutch Prime Minister advocated that the Ukrainian Army be able to attack targets inside Russia, as his interlocutor insistently demands: “Attack Russian planes and missiles before they can be used against “Civil infrastructure can save lives,” Rutte argued at the joint press conference.
Already upon taking office, the new Secretary General had announced that Ukraine would be a priority for him and that he would work to “intensify” support for kyiv. “It was important to come at the beginning of my mandate, to make it very clear to the Ukrainian people and to everyone who watches us that NATO is with Ukraine,” he said yesterday. The visit comes at a difficult time for Ukraine, since its forces are withdrawing to the eastern front, with a shortage of men and weapons, and kyiv demands authorization to attack targets in Russian territory with long-range missiles, a possibility that they reject. allies such as the United States for fear that it will lead to escalation by Moscow.
Rutte, on the other hand, gave his approval to that path, since International Law “is on the side of Ukraine” and the exercise of its right to defense does not end at the border: “The only country that has crossed the red lines “It was Russia when starting this war,” he noted. However, he recalled that the decision to lift restrictions on the use of Western weapons against targets in Russia depends on the allies that supply them, not on NATO.
«Closer than ever»
The Secretary General has also referred to the future accession of Ukraine, which he sees as “closer to NATO than ever,” as he celebrated. «He will continue on that path until he becomes a member. “I’m looking forward to that day,” he added.
Zelensky, for his part, reiterated his request to the Western allies to attack Russian positions, in addition to demanding that Ukraine be supplied with “a sufficient quantity and quality of weapons” and that help be provided to shoot down missiles. In that sense, he made reference to Iran’s attack on Israel: “The fact that there were no deaths is due to the fact that the allies defended the people of Israel,” he highlighted.
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